Radio 2 Boosts Weekly Reach To Over 13 Million

BBC radio stations once again performed well for the most part, with BBC Radio 2 boasting a weekly reach of more than 13.2 million, up 2.4% year on year, according to the latest Q1 2007 RAJAR results.

Radio 1’s reach was up by a significant 8.4% compared to Q1 2006, to leave it with more than 10.5 million listeners.

Radio 4 also rose markedly, with its weekly reach up almost 4% compared to the same quarter last year. The spoken word station now holds a reach of more than 9.6 million.

Radio 1’s sister station, the urban music focused 1Xtra, has posted an impressive rise in its weekly reach for the first quarter of this year, up by more than 25% year on year and more than 26% period on period.

1Xtra, which recently announced that Nesha is to leave the station on May 4, to be replaced by Max as host of its weekday lunchtime show (see New Weekday DJ For 1Xtra), now reaches 465,000 listeners in the UK.

Digital only indie station, BBC 6 Music, also recorded a successful period. The station’s weekly reach was up almost 33% year on year to 477,000, including a period on period rise of 24.5%.

talkSPORT (Talk Radio), which in February announced that it had signed goal scoring legend Ian Wright to co-present the station’s drivetime show (see TalkSPORT Gets It Wright), saw a more than 13% rise in its weekly reach year on year to reach more than 2.3 million.

Other stations to boast impressive figures were The Arrow (UK) which boosted its weekly reach by more than 45% year on year, and Mojo Radio, which despite its magazine brand shedding copies from its circulation, increased its weekly reach by 36.6% to 220,000.

The Hits now reports a reach of more than 1.1 million, up more than 20% year on year, whilst Virgin Radio Groove rose23.6% year on year to 68,000.

Meanwhile, BBC Radio Five Live’s mix of news, current affairs and sport, saw its weekly reach decline by almost 5% year on year to more than 5.8 million, whilst Radio 3’s weekly reach had fallen by almost 9.5% to around 1.9 million.

Total Capital Gold Network, however, was down almost 14% to just over one million, whilst Total Classic Gold Network UK, which was bought by GCap Media for £4 million last month (see GCap Nabs Classic Gold Network In Almost £4 Million Cash Deal), was down almost 7%. Its weekly reach now stands at around 680,000.

Total Kiss Network, which expanded last summer (see Superstar DJs Line Up For Kiss Revamp), reported an impressive upturn in its reach, of almost 25% to 2.8 million, despite a period on period drop of 4%.

Total Smooth FM, incorporating the new Smooth Radio brand which launched last month, officially replacing the Saga Radio and Smooth FM brands (see Smooth Transition For New Radio Transmission), has also shown a significant incline in weekly reach year on year. Total Smooth FM was up almost 18% to just shy of 1.5 million.

BBC Radio 2’s share of listening was down slightly, by 0.2 percentage points year on year. However, it recorded the highest share in the UK at just shy of 16% amongst the national stations.

The corporation’s flagship music station, BBC Radio 1, now boasts an improved share of listening, up one percentage point year on year to 10.1%.

Radio 4’s share of listening had climbed 0.5 percentage points to rest at 12.2%.

BBC Radio Five Live’s share of listening now stands at 4.2%, down 0.4 percentage points year on year, whilst talkSPORT (Talk Radio) reported good fortune, with its share up 0.3 percentage points year on year, and 0.2 percentage points from Q4 2006. The station now has a share of listening in the UK radio universe of 2%.

BBC Radio 3’s share of listening now sits at 1.2%, down 0.1 percentage points year on year and 0.2 percentage points period on period, whilst Classic FM remained static year on year with a 4.2% share.

1Xtra also remained static year on year, with a 0.2% share. Meanwhile, BBC 6 Music climbed 0.1 percentage point to leave its share of listening at 0.3%.

On the other side of the coin, declines were seen for Total Capital Gold Network UK and Total Classic Gold Network UK, which were down 0.2 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points respectively.

They now hold a national share of listening of 0.6% each.

Despite boosting its weekly reach, Radio 2’s average hours per listener now stand at 12.5, down 4.6% year on year.

Classical station Radio 3 also saw its hours per listener shrink 6% year on year to 6.3 hours per listener. However, Radio 1 listeners now stay tuned for an average of 10 hours per listener (up 1% year on year).

BBC Radio Five Live’s average hours per listener declined to 7.4 from eight in Q4 2006 and 7.9 in Q1 2006, whilst Radio 4 fans now tune in for 13.2 hours – a period on period rise of 5.6%.

1Xtra listeners are tuning in for 2.2% longer than for the same period last year. Its fans stick with the station for 4.6 hours, despite a 6.1% fall period on period.

BBC 6 Music’s hours per listener were down from Q4 2006 by 16.7%, but rose year on year by 5.8% to 5.5 hours per listener.

Hours per listener for talkSPORT (Talk Radio) were down 1.1% year on year to 8.7, despite a period on period increase of almost 5%.

Total Virgin Radio (AM/FM) and The Arrow (UK) were down by more than 11% each year on year, with 6.2 and 6.1 hours per listener on average respectively.

Mojo Radio saw its listener hours drop by a quarter, with music fans staying with the station for 2.7 hours on average, compared to 3.6 hours in the first quarter of last year.

Smash Hits Radio reported better fortunes, with its hours per listener climbing almost 13% year on year to 3.5.

Total Capital Gold Network UK shed 13% year on year from its hours per listener, whilst the Total Classic Gold Network UK lost more than 11%. The networks now hold listeners for an average of six and 8.6 hours respectively.

RAJAR: 020 7292 9040 www.rajar.co.uk